1.03.2005

Sometimes a dot is just a dot

Here is a drawing by my daughter, Ava, 4 and a half-years old. She drew this on Sunday after politely asking to borrow her mother's brand-new blue Sharpie pen. I sat there watching her draw in typical Ava fashion: quiet intensity. When Ava draws, she's serious about it.

Here, she tells me that this is Ava, and she's sad because it's windy (see the clouds with the swirly lines coming from them) and it's rainy (just right of the windy clouds) and that the sun is trying to come out. Ava's hair is being blown about, too (she usually draws her hair swirls going down), along with a tear underneath each eye. (The dark circles on either side of her face are her rosie cheeks. Cute, huh?) The squiggles all around the scene are Ava's way of depicting words and writing, like a book. And being the budding artist, she's even signed this piece of work, in the upper-left hand corner.

What I thought was interesting with this drawing was that at one point she placed a dot so carefully between the eye and rosie cheek, practically in the middle of the face. With such meticulousness, I thought that surely this dot meant something. Why else would she be so delicate in her placement of this little dot? So I asked her, "What is that, Ava?"

16 comments:

Yep... Sometimes a dot IS just a dot. It's brilliant! It's, it's, it's almost da da-esque! Seriously, she appears to be showing a creative bent there Ward. Better watch out! She's going to demand to go to SCAD before you know it!!! Luckily, SCAD is supposed to be opening an Atlanta campus sometime soon so at least you'll be able to keep an eye on her!

What are you doing up so late???These pictures are delightful. Reminds me of another young budding artist MANY years ago. I remember how frustrated he would get when the picture he was working on just wasn't right. There was also a quiet intensity in his work as he bent over the masterpiece, where the brain magically transferred the image from the grey cells to the fingertips. I still stand in awe of that whole creative process. Both you and your sister are artists working over either your visual commentaries or your oral commentaries. Amazing. How did that come from me??? Only God could work such a miracle:) Son, get more sleep.

holy smokes, this child is brilliant. BRILLIANT. a regular budding picasso! okay, okay. I confess- mrs. ward-o-matic here, proud mother of said child artist. I hate to go on and on but I have to say how much fun it has been to watch her paint and draw and witness different themes emerge as she experiments on a daily basis. she inspires me. even before I had children, I loved doing art projects with my dance students- I was always amazed by what they would come up with. as adults, we are often so product-oriented- we forget how much fun it is just to create without the pressure of what the final outcome will look like. when was the last time anyone just got lost in the process? it's a delicious, delicious thing.

I want to tell you how fortunate Ava is to have a preschool teacher who is so nurturing of creative/artist-type persdonalities :). Mandy actually left before I could show this to her but I will when she gets home!

Yes, James--I do want Mandy to know how thankful we are to have her as Ava's first teacher. She's been so supportive and very patient with our little girl. Mandy put together a page for Ava's class notebook with recent drawings that she did and did her own analysis of Ava's work. It was very interesting.

Ward, now you can get Ava a gig at Six Flags doing caricatures this summer! Seriously, that's a mighty charming drawing. It takes a big man to step aside and be eclipsed by his child's talent. You, sir, are that man.

Nice work - I am a packrat when it comes to my girls' art (I have three girls under six). I save what is savable, and take pictures of everything... and we've even hung some of my kindergartener's work up in her room! It really encourages her, and as long as she is having fun, I plan on continuing the encouragement.

Most children are able to draw but usually not given the opportunity. Archie, our son, was given coloured pencils, pens and unlimited paper from a very early age as his doting parents are both artists and naturally like to encourage anybody to take up drawing as a force for good and for seeing and understanding the world in which we live. Its a sad fact that in most artschools now they don't teach drawing from the model or still life anymore and concentrate on theory and art history etc. No wonder we are turning out graduates whose only sketchbook is the computer screen and the video camera.

I'd like to second what Michael has just said. I recently took a figure drawing course here in town so that I could sharpen the chops a bit. I was surprised at how hard it was--and I think I draw pretty well. There really is no substitute for placing graphite or charcoal to paper and rendering what you see.

I love the drawing, especially the sky and Ava's mouth. I'm facinated by the chin. I remember as a kid trying to draw hair going down behind someone's shoulders and not being able...I could see it, I just couldn't grow it.Cherish her and encourage her to draw everywhere. She probably has a wicked sense of humour.

I'm a writer and dots are carefully placed... You've got a creative little Van Gogh there on your hands daddy. She's a genius! What a great drawing. If not destned to be the next Van Gogh I bet she studies philosophy... a dot is just a dot, or in this case 3 dots are just 3 dots...